Printing machine



Jan. 21, 1936.1 c. ,0. RYAN PRINTING MACHINE Filed April 13,1955

6 Sheets-Sheet. 1

BMW

Cbmi720dore D. Ryan Jan. 21, 1936.- v c. D. RYAN PRINTING MACHINE Filed April 15, 1935; es Sheets-rSheet 2 QWUCMM r Commodprejlflyqzz Jan. 21, 1936. c. D. RYAN PRINTING MACHINE Filed April 13, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 E W. a 2%? @%Q i v I ST T? LW s 27V 2 57 I I I Z6 4 31 Z6 Z8 a; i1 124 3! 124 122 130 flifl.

Commodore D- Ryan PRINTING MACHINE Filed AprillS, 1935 e Sheets-Sheet 5 Commodore D. Ryan Jan. 21,1936. c. D. RYAN PRINTING MACHINE Filed April 15; 1955 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 truck instead of the attachment Patented Jan. 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,028,294 rnmrmo MACHINE Commodore 'D. Ryan, Los Angeles, Calif., as-

signor to National Postal Meter Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application April 13, 1935, Serial No. 16,214 9 Claims. (Cl. 2712.4)

vwhich mechanism may be either permanently or detachably mounted upon the machine.

A further object is to provide the tape handling device with tape feeding means arranged to be operated from the machine conveyor during the actuation of the conveyor by the manually operable conveyor advancing and tripping mechanism.

It is a further object to provide the tape handling device with a guideway having one portion thereof arranged to support the tape in a printing position and a second portion arranged to present the tape to a tearing edge for severing the printed strip, after being advanced, from the main supply of tape; to provide a manually operable tape advancing and retracting mechanism;. and to provide means for limiting the retractive action of said mechanism whereby the tape will be withdrawn a predetermined distance from its severing to its printing position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the nature of the same is more fully understood from the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth what is now considered to be a preferred embodiment. It will be understood, however, that this particular embodiment of the invention is shown principally for the purpose of exemplification and that variations therefrom in details of construction or arrangement of the parts may equally be effected and yet remain Within the spirit and scope of the invention as the same is set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates a front elevational view of the printing machine of this invention with the gummed tape handling device attached thereto.

Figure 2 illustrates a partial sectional plan view on reduced scale of Fig. 1 with the conveyor mounted thereon.

Figure 3 illustrates a right hand side-view of Fig. 2 partially in section.

Figure4 illustrates a fragmental sectional view of a portion of the means for rendering the manually'operable tripping means inoperative.

Figure 5 illustrates on enlarged scale a fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 55 of Fig. 2.

Figure 6 illustrates on enlarged scale a fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line li6 of Fig. 2.

Figure 7 illustrates a fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line I-I of :5 Fig. 1.

Figure 8 illustrates an enlarged sectional view takensubstantially in the plane of line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Figure 9 illustrates a fragmental view taken substantially in the plane of line 99 of Fig. 7.

Figure 10 illustrates a fragmental sectional View taken substantially in the plane of line |0l0 of Fig. 1.

Figure 11 illustrates a fragmental sectional view on enlarged scale taken substantially in the plane of line ll-ll of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 illustrates a fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the. plane of line 12-12 of Fig. 11. g

Figure 13 illustrates a section of the tape with the appropriate postage indicia printed thereon.

Figure 14 illustrates an enlarged perspective view of the tape handling attachment.

Figure 15 illustrates a perspective'view, partly in section, of the moistening device.

Figure 16" illustrates a sectional view of the moistening device showing the manner in which it is mounted upon the discharge end of the attachment;

Figure 17 illustrates an enlarged fragmental view of a tape guideway-having provided therein a resilient impression surface; and

Figure 18 illustrates a sectional view taken. substantially in the plane of line |8l8 of Fig. 17.

The gummed tape handling device of this inventionqmay be readily attached to the postage printing machine disclosed in the John Q. Finfrock application for United States Letters Pat-' ent Serial No.'741,235, filed August 24, 1934. 40

The machine of the Finfrock application is operable for the printing of postage stamps upon mail matter and is of the power driven type.

In order to increase the useful scope of the above machine, a novel gummed tape handling device has been devised for attachment thereto whereby postage indicia may be expeditiously printed on gummed tape and after a strip of the tape has received the appropriate value of postage printed thereon, either by one or a plurality of impressions, it may be glued to a parcel post package or upon over weight mail matter or other articles of mail requiring high values of postage.

Printing machine The printing machine l5, which for convenience may at times be referred to as the machine, may include a. power plant l6 detachably supporting a postage printing meter 11, conveniently referred to as the meter. -:The power plant is provided with a driving mechanism l8 having as its source of power an electric motor (not shown) and normally feeding conveyor l9 by connected to the envelope clutch means 20 and connectable to the meter through a one cycle clutch 2| whereby, when the meter clutch is tripped into operation, it will act to drive the meter through one full printing cycle and then automatically disengage to stop the meter. The one,

or single, cycle clutch will be referred to herein as the cyclic clutch. The cyclic clutch is provided with a cam 22 acting through the cam lever 23 during its initial conveyor clutch control means 24 for disconnecting the conveyor from the driving mechanism and for reestablishing this driving connection when cam 22 arrives at substantially the end of its operating cycle. Thus, while the meter is, in driving connection with the driving mechanism, the conveyor is automatically disconnected therefrom.

The description of the machine will now be interrupted for a detailed description of the tape handling device and will be again taken up along with the manner of attaching the device upon the machine and during the description of the operation of the machine to feed and print postage on 'gummed tape.

Tape handling attachmen I 25, commonly reper end with an open sided cylindrical cavity 29 for the reception of a coil 30 of gummed tape 3|. As may be observed most clearly in Figure '7, the coilof tape 30 may be carried by 'a coil supporting reel 32 journally mounted upon an axle 33 axially mounted in the pedestal'cavity in any appropriate manner. The reelmay be 'demountably retained upon the axle by any suitable form of means, as for example, by a spring wire 34 compressibly mounted in spring groove 35 formed in the distal end of axle 33..

Referring to Figures may be formed in the ca 'ty for the tape-to pass through. One side of the opening may be provided with a well rounded guiding surface 31 for guiding the tape as it leaves the cavity, while the other edge of the opening may be provided with a flange 38 towhich flange one end of a tape guideway 39 may be fastened by any suitrotation to actuate the plate of the v (Fig. 14) may be fastened 1 and 14, an opening 36 (Fig. 14) to the right hand edge of the platewhere it is securely fastened. The tape, upon leaving the guiding surface 36 of the cavity,

travels downwardly to and under guide rod 4| and finallyengages the guideway 39 in the locality of the tape feeding roller 42. At about: this point the guideway is provided with side flanges 43 so arranged as to form a partially covered channel through which the tape may be freely propelled. Directly above the discharge end of the guideway there may be provided a metal tearing strip 44 (Figs. 14-15) The tape feeding roller 42 may be rubbertired and may be fastened upon the inner end of shaft 45. The shaft may be journally mounted in the free end of a suitable swing frame nected to pedestal 21 as by means of the pivot pin 41. The tape feeding roller 42 may be rotated to propel the tape along the guideway by means of ahand wheel 48, fastened upon the outer end of shaft 45, as by'means of a When it is desired to mount the attachment 46 having its other end pivotally conupon the power plant, it is necessary to first remove the envelope feed conveyor truck 5|, (Fig. 2). This may be readily done by raising the hold down, bar 52 which releases the truck so that it may be removed. When mounting the attachment upon the machine, the hold down bar shouldbe maintained in its elevated position. The attachment, taken by means of handle 50, is slid over the conveyor until the locating groove'53 of the depending flange 54 (Figs. 1-10 and 14) registers with the upper edge of the power plant front wall 55. The holding bar may now be lowered to clamp the attachment to the power plant. The base plate bracket may be provided with a tapered notch 56 into which the tapered head of one end of the hold down bar may project .to correctly position the attachment endwise, (Figs. 1 and 14). The opposite end of the hold down bar may ride upon the top surface of post 51 of the swing frame 46, (Figs. 1-10 and 14). The rear portion of the attachment is supported by means screw means 60 whereby the elevation of the rear edge of the attachment may be accurately adjusted. This adjustment need be made only when first adjusting' the attachment to the power plant.

be adjustably fastened to the .The structural detail of the hold down bar means 52 is shown clearly in Figure 10; The bar is supported between two spaced angular lever arms 5|, which arms project through suitable openings, in the power plant wall 62 and are pivotally supported by shaft 63 in turn supported from-the rear face of wall 62 by bearing brackets 64., A tension spring 65 may be provided for each of the lever arms for yieldingly urging the hold down bar into clamping engagement with either the conveyor truck or attachment. Due to the independent mounting of each arm SI and its separate spring means, the

opposite ends will have a certain amount of give or motion before affecting the other end Control means As is fully described in the Finfrock application, the machine is provided with means operable during the passage of each piece of mail matter through the machine for releasing the cyclic clutch into operation for driving the printing means. control means 66 includes briefly a suitable trigger 6? having its free end located in the path of the mail matter as it moves into printing position. Each piece of mail matter passing through the machine will engage and thereby actuate the trigger. This actuation of the trigger will act through its rearward extension 68 (Fig. 3) to swing a stop lever 69 free from clutch arm i0, thus releasing" the cyclic clutch 2!. As will be remembered, the operation of the cyclic clutch will cause the conveyor clutch to be disengaged in the manner previously described. The envelope engaging trigger is not needed when printing upon gummed tape and, therefore, by means of friction lever 10a (Fig. 3) the free end of the trigger may be retracted before placing the attachment upon the machine.

As in the Finfrock application, the hold down bar 52 has two distinct control features, the

first to automatically disengage the conveyor driving clutch each time it is lifted to free the conveyor truck and to free the clutch for engagement when the bar is lowered into truck holding position and, second, to render the hand tripping means inoperative while in truck engaging position and to free the hand tripping means when in its raisedposition. When the attachment is mounted upon the machine, it is important to maintain the conveyor continuously disconnected from the driving means and to release the manual tripping means. By making the tapered notch 56 and post 51 of sufiicient height, they will act to retain the holding bar raised sufiiciently to interrupt the conveyor drive and release the manual tripping means. These control features will be very briefly described as' they are fully disclosed in the Finfrock application. The angular lever arms 6| have rearwardly extending arms ll (Figs 2 and 10) interconnected by rod 12. A conveyor clutch lever 13 is pivotally mounted on rod 12 intermediate arms "H and is operatively connected to the clutch control means 24 whereby when the holding bar is raised above a predetermined point the clutch lever l3 will be depressed to in turn engage the conveyor clutch control means 24 to bring about a disengagement of the clutch.

The conveyor clutch with. its control means .24 may include, as illustrated in detail'in Figures and 6, a driving clutch wheel 24a, a driven clutch wheel 24b and a small rubber tired control wheel 240. The driving wheel is fastened upon and driven by the power plant driving shaft 24d, the driven wheel is fastened upon and drives the conveyor drive shaft 241 and the control wheel is journaled upon the stub shaft 24g of the stirrup 24h. The upper end of stirrup 24h is pivotally carried by the lever arm 247,

which lever arm is joumaled upon shaft 24k. Fixed upon shaft 24k is a second lever arm 241.

These lever arms are yieldingly connected by 'means of pin 24m fastened. to lever 247' and freely extending through the second lever arm.

The upper end of the pin is provided with adjusting nuts and between these nuts and the second lever arm the pin is provided with a com.- pression spring. A set screw 241i, screw threaded through the second. lever arm, prevents these ,two arms from being swung closer together than illustrated in Figure 6 but will not act to prevent the arms from being swung apart.

By this mechanism the control wheel may be retained in driving engagement (Fig. 5) with the peripheries of wheels 24a and 24b to transmit the driving force from the power plant driving shaft 2401 to the conveyor drive shaft 24 The control wheel 2dr: may be lowered out of driving engagement with the clutch wheels as shown in Figure 6.

The control wheel Mcmay be actuated by rod E2 of the hold down mechanism to place the conveyor clutch in or out of driving engagement. For this purpose, the clutch lever 73 connects rod 12 to a clutch pin 24p. When the, clutch is in its normal driving condition, should the hold down bar 52 be lifted, the bar i2 will be depressed as it lies upon the opposite bar 52 is lowered to its normal position, the control wheel will be lifted, due to the action of its compression spring before referred to, to again render the conveyor clutch active.

The hand tripping means is controlled by the hold down bar 52 by operatively connecting one arm of the bell crank lever 14 to rod 12 of the hold down mechanism, as by means of link 15, and by connecting the other arm of the bell crank lever to the forward end of locking member I6, the rearward end of which slidably passes through the intermediate wall 11. When the hold down bar 52 is in its truck holding position, as shown .in Figure 2, the free end of locking member 16 will be projected through wall 11 into the path of travel of the tripping link 18 and will thereby render the hand trip-..,

ping means inoperative. When the hold down bar 52 is retained in its elevated position by the attachment, the free end of the locking member will be retracted from the path of travel of the I tripping link 18, thus releasing the hand tripping means for operation.

The manual trippingmeans includes briefly the tripping link 78, above referred to, having its free end slidably supported upon a stud I9 carried by wall I! and its rear end pivotally connected to the free end of a crank arm 86 which is fixed to one end of rock shaft 8|. The

tripping link 18 may be provided with a detripped into operation.

driven member 93 The actuation of the hand piece is also utilized for advancing the envelope conveyor a predetermined distance and by fixedly mounting a rubber-tired wheel on the attachment shaft 45 (Figs. 10 and 12) in position to ride upon the conveyor belt 86, the tape feeding roller 42 likewise fixed on sufficiently to advance the tape a predetermined distance. The conveyor belt 86 plays about pulley 81 coaxially arranged with relation to the hand piece and connected thereto by any suitable form of ratchet driving 'means (not shown). The ratchet driving means is arranged to act during the rotation of the hand piece in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure- 1, to correspondingly turn the conveyor pulley 81 and at substantially the end of its movement the hand piece will act to actuate the lever arm 83 of the tripping mechanism to place the cyclic clutch in operation. By this arrangement the tape will be advanced prior to the commencement of the cycle of operation of the postage printing meter I1. Due. to the ratchet means, the return movement of. the hand piece may be had without causing the conveyor to be operated.

After the required amount of postage has been printed upon a strip of tape, the tape may be advanced untilthe date circle has passed the tearing strip 44, whereupon the tape may be nicely torn off. Such a strip is illustrated in Figure 13. The hand wheel 48 may be turned in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figures 1 and 12, to advance the tape from its last printing position to its tearing position.

It is desirable to print the first. stamp relatively close to the torn end of the tape and to accomplish this the tape must beretracted after the tearing operation to a correct printing position. For this purpose, means are provided for predetermining the extent to which the tape may be retracted by the turning of hand wheel 48 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 1.

Tape retracting means The tape retracting means may include a uni directional clutch 90 (Figs. 11 and. 12) combined with a lost motion device 9|. The driving member 92 of the clutch may be formed integral with hand wheel 48 so as to be turned during the rotation of the tape feeding roller 42, while the may be connected to swing frame 46 through the lost motion device SI. This connection may be formed by mounting the inner side face of 'the driven member closely adjacent the related side face of swing frame 46 and providing the swing frame with a stop pin 04 having its projecting end playing in an arcuate limit groove 95 formed in the adjacent face of the driven member. By this construction the hand wheel 48 may be turned freely in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figures 1 and 12, for advancing any length of tape' desired. The unidirectional or over running clutch will shaft 45 will be rotated.

the guideway.

permit this operation, however, when the hand wheel is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in these figures, the rollers 96 of the clutch will traverse the inclined surfaces of the driven member under influence of their respec- 5 tive spring means 91 whereby thedriven and driving member of the clutch will be' locked together and, if it were not for the lost motion device, the clutch would prevent any appreciable rotation of the hand wheel in this direction. 10 Due to the lost motion means, the hand wheel may be rotated in a clockwise direction until,

the end of the arcuate limit groove 95 engages the stop 94. This limited rotation of hand wheel 48 will turn the tape feeding wheel 42 to retract 15 the cut end of the tape a predetermined distance from tearing edge 44. Y

To insure a positive feeding of the tape by wheel 42, it is advisable to provide a cooperating supporting roller 98, Figure 10, also rubber sur- 20 faced. The tape guideway 39 is provided with a suitable opening 99 to permit the periphery of roller 98 to engage the tape. The forward end of roller 98 may be provided with a suitable wheel I00 (Fig. 10) for supporting conveyor 25 belt 88 directly below wheel 85, thus insuring a positive driving connection between the conveyor and the tape feeding wheel 42.

Moistening device For convenience of operation, the attachment may be provided with a moistening device IOI (Figs. 1-15 and 16) operable for moistening the gummed surface of the tape as it is fed from the discharge of the guideway.

The moistening device may include a substantially rectangular water container I02 having an opening I03 through the top surface thereof through which may project the bristles of a suitable capillary brush I04. The brush projects sufliciently to engage the under surface of the tape and thereby wet the gummed, surface thereof.

Operation Assuming the machine to be in condition as shown in Figure 2, it will be necessary to first remove the envelope conveyor truck5l, this being easily and quickly done by raising the holding bar 52 in the manner previously described. Next, the secondary truck IIO may .be removed by sliding it from its pivotal supporting pin II I, which pin is carried by bracket II2.

The attachment may now be mounted upon the power plant in the manner described. Before mounting the attachment, it will be well to be sure that the tape' has first been fed ..rough The mounting of the attachment will retain the holding bar 52 sumciently elevated to render the conveyor clutch inoperative and to release the manual tripping device. The machine is now ready to print stamps upon the gummed tape.

The power plant motor will be started in the usual way and before tripping the printing meter into operation the tape should be retracted in 75 vanced to its correct printing position during the operation of hand piece 84. At the end of the tape advancing stroke, the cyclic clutch will be tripped into action to bring the printing meter into operation to print the stamp.

Before starting the printing meter into operation, it should first be set to print a stamp of appropriate value. The printing meter shown is capable of printing any one of, four diiferent values, namely 1, 2, 3 or 10. The meter is adjusted to print the desired value of stamp by shifting the selector lever Ht adjacent to the appropriate figure calibrated upon the meter casing.

If a. strip is to be printed for 12 postage, as illustrated in Figure 13, the selector lever H4 should be shifted to a position adjacent the figure 2. The date circle should be printed during this printing operation and this is accomplished by setting the date circle knob M5 to its on" position. The printing meter may now be placed in operation by means of hand piece 84. During this cycle of operation the 2 stamp with the,

date circle will be printed upon the tape. For the printing of the 10 stamp, the selecting lever H4 should now be shifted adjacent the figure 10 and as the date circle has already been printed and only one date circle is necessary for each section of tape, thedate circle knob should be moved to its "off position. By actuating hand piece 84 again, the tape will be advanced sufiiciently'to nicely place the second stamp between the 2 stamp and the date circle, as illustrated in Fig. 13.

It will be understoodqthat any number of stamps may be printed upon a strip of tape and that the date circle will be printed with the next to last or last stamp as desired. Should thedate circle be printed with the last stamp, considerable space will be left between the last stamp and date circle. If the date, circle is printed with the printing of the next to last stamp, the last two stamps and date circle will be as shown in Figure 13. i

' Except for the change of value to be printed and the date circle, the printing of each stamp upon the tape, irrespective of number, may be easily and quickly accomplished by the mere turning of the hand piece 84. This operation acts to correctly space the stamps and place the printing meter in operation.

After the required number of. stamps, with,

the date circle, has been printed upon a strip, the tape may be advancedby means of hand wheel 48 until the date circle has cleared the tearing piece 44. The printed strip of tape may now be torn off and, if the moistening device is to retract the tape in readiness for the next series of operations which maybe carried out as described. v

In some cases it has been found thata clearer impression will be printed upon the tape if the tape supporting surface of the guideway is provided with a yielding or cushioning means (Figs. 17-18) One manner of providing such a means is to glue or otherwise fix a resilient pad of rubber,

'felt, or other suitable material, in the bottom of hesive tape in the bottom of the guideway. One

piece i2! should be located at the date circle printing position; a second piece I22 at the stamp printing position. of adhesive tape may be made slightly larger than its respective printing die. A third piece I23 of adhesive tape, wider than pieces IN and I22, and long enough to extend along the guideway so as to completely overlie the smaller pieces, may be then applied to the guideway. As may be observed from Figure 16, the edges of the third piece of adhesive tape, which extends beyond the first and second pieces of tape, should be broughtdown and adhere to the bottom surface of the guideway and, likewise, the front and rear ends of this third piece of tape should be brought down and adhered to the guideway. The flanges 43 of the guideway are flared upwardly as at I2 3 for the length of the cushioning means to provide the proper space for the tape 3| to be propelled therealong.

Another featureof this invention is the rolling of the tape in roll 30 with the gummed surface thereof directed outwardly. As -a result, each printed strip of tape dispensed from the the tape be rolled with the gummed surface di- Each of these pieces rected inwardly, the dispensedtape will curl so stubbornly as to be extremely annoying when applying it to a piece of mail matter.

While I have illustrated. the preferred form of my invention, it is to be understood that the foregoing descriptaion is for illustrative purposes only and I do not desire to be limited to any of the details shown or described, except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a tape handling device, a supporting frame, a tape guideway having tape treating and severing portions, a tape feeding roller operatively carried by the frame in tape engaging relation with said guideway, means for turning the roller for advancing or retracting the tape along said guideway, and means associated with the turning means operative only during the action of said turning means to retract the tape for predetermining the withdrawal of the tape end from its severing to its treating positionin the guideway.

2. In a tape handling device, a tape guideway t having tape treating and severing portions, a tape advancing and retracting mechanism, and means associated with said mechanism operative only during the action of the mechanism to retract the tape for predetermining the withdrawal of the tape end from its severing to its treating position in the guideway.

3. In a tape handling device, a supporting frame, a shaft journaled therein, a tape feeding roller fixedly mounted upon said shaft, a unidirectional clutch means including driving and driven members so arranged as to have its driving member fixedly mounted upon the shaft and its driven member journaled thereon and said driven member having a concentric groove of predetermined length formed in the side face the driven member of said clutch with the frame.

5. In a tape handling device, a supporting frame, a tape advancing and retracting mechanism operatively carried thereby, a unidirectional clutch means including driving and driven members so arranged as to have its driving member operatively connected to said mechanism, and a lost motion device operatively connecting the driven member of said clutch with the frame for predetermining the length of tape which may be retracted by said mechanism.

6. In a printing machine, printing means, driving mechanism having a normally inactive cyclic clutch means operable for forming a driving connection with the printing means, cyclic clutch tripping means operable for rendering the cyclic clutch active to drive the printing means through a printing cycle, tape handling means, and a spacing and tripping device manually operable for actuating the tape handling means to feed a predetermined length of tape into printing position for each actuation of said. device and for actuating the cyclic clutch tripping means.

7. In a printing machine, printing means, a feed conveyor operable for feeding objects thereto, a driving mechanism having clutch with the conveyor and a normally inactive cyclic clutch means operable for forming a driving connection with the printing means, cyclic clutch tripping means operable for rendering the cyclic clutch active to drive the printing means through a printing cycle, a' spacing and tripping device normally retained inactive, tape handling means attachable to the printing machine, and means operable upon the placing. of the tape handling means into operative position for disengaging the conveyor clutch and for releasing the spacing and tripping means, and said spacing and tripping device after its release bei manually operable for actuating the tape handling means to feed a predetermined length-of tape into printing position and for actuating the cyclic clutch tripping means.

8. In a printing machin printing means, a feed conveyor operable for feeding objects thereto, a driving mechanism having clutch means forming a releasable driving connection with the conveyor and a normally inactive cyclic clutch means operable for forming a driving connection with the printing means, cyclic clutch tripping means operable for rendering the cyclic clutch active to drive the printing means through a printing cycle, a spacing and tripping device normally retained inactive, tape handling means attachable to the printing machine in operative engagement with the conveyor, and means operable upon the placing of the tape handling means into operative position'for disengaging the conveyor clutch and for releasing the spacing and tripping device, and said spacing and tripping device after its release being manually operable through the conveyor for actuating the tape handling means to feed a predetermined length of tape into printing position for each actuation thereof and operable at substantially the end of each actuation for actuating the cyclic clutch tripping means to render said clutch active for driving the printing means through a printing cycle.

9. In a printing machine, printing means, a feed conveyor operable for feeding objects thereto, a driving mechanismhaving clutch means forming a releasable driving connection with the conveyor and a normally -inactive cyclic clutch means operable for forming a driv ing connection with the printing means, cyclic clutch tripping means operable for rendering the cyclic clutch active to drive the printing means through a printing cycle, a spacing and device normally retained inactive, tape handling means attachable to the printing machine in operative engagement with the conveyor, and means operable upon the placing of the tape handling means into operative position for disengaging the conveyor clutchand for releasing the spacing and tripping device, said spacing and tripping device after its release being manually operable through the conveyor for actuating the tape handling means to feed a predetermined length of tape into printing position for each actuation thereof and for actuating the cyclic clutch tripping means to render said clutch active for driving the printing means through a printing cycle.

' COMMODORE 1). RYAN. 

